HOT FEET

[MichaelD]

My car is a 98 Caterham DeDion, LHD, 210 HP Zetec, Jet Coated headers (silver finish has burned off) I will need to replace it with the Black Jet Coat. Coolant is water with Water Wetter,

 

Placed foam around radiator to force all cool air entering nosecone through radiator. Placed foam on both sides and top of the transmission to keep hot air out of the transmission tunnel.

 

Pics attached.

 

Tested with a dual probe meat thermometer from Polder. One probe in engine bay and one probe in footwell. Ambiant temp ranged from about 95 F

 

RUN 1 - Engine at 3,500 RPM for ten minutes, Water temp 80 C., probe attached to master cylinder in engine bay.

Engine bay 149 F

Driver footwell 119 F

Passenger footwell 109 F

 

 

RUN 2 - Engine at 3,500 RPM for ten minutes, Water temp 80 C, added foan to the outside side of footwells and moved the probe to in front of drivers foot box..

Engine bay 167 F

Driver footwell 107 F

Passenger footwell 106 F

 

The added foam to the outside side of the footwell seems to have lowered the footwell temps by 12 degrees on the drivers side and 3 degrees on the passenger side.

 

A simple touch test revealed that most heat in foot well is now radiating from the tops of the footwell and the bulkhead. This ared is not covered by the reflective heat shield. I just bhate to stick stuff on the clean aluminum :-(

 

I have run out of time to perform test without any foam. There's always tomorrow.

 

I will trt to upload photos.

 

Michael D.

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1068135600_CIMG3034[1].bmp

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1942891629_CIMG3037[1].bmp

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/871617631_CIMG3038[1].bmp

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/706776079_CIMG3039[1].bmp

[slngsht]

No luck with the uploads apparently...

 

Michael, hit the edit button on your post, then on the lower left side of the screen, look for "upload image" button and follow instructions from there...

[slngsht]

Oh, I think the problem is those images are way too big. Max size for upload is 1 Meg I believe.

 

Please resize them before uploading.

[Davemk1]

I feel a bit like a dummy but here goes -

 

I completely understand the foam around the tunnel deal and that is something I plan to do myself. My question is what does the foam around the radiator do to keep your feet cool?

 

Thanks for sharing your results.

 

Dave

[11Budlite]

Hope you don't mind, but I resized them...

 

Bruce

 

 

[Edit by Slngsht]:Bruce, thanks... I moved your resized images to the original post... catching up on housekeeping work

 

 

[slngsht]

This is my solution to the heat problem... Reflectix:

Picture shows only the top of the tunnel is covered, but I covered the whole tunnel.

 

Any of you who got rides from me at 7/7/7 know that you still get hot feet... It is because I did not get a chance to cover the deep part of the footwell before the event, nor the area behind the pedal, or above the feet.

 

Any area that is covered with this stuff is completely cool to the touch, and my engine puts out some SERIOUS HEAT. I got the idea from the corvette crowd, who have been using it for years to insulate the center tunnel (dual exhaust pipes pass right under the driveshaft, so there is quite a bit of heat). You can buy it at Home Depot. Look in the construction supply area where the insulation stuff is. Sometimes it is hard to find, and when you ask for Reflectix, you might as well start talking chineese - but it is there.

 

I also have an extra pack that's more than enough to do somebody's car. If no place close to you carries the stuff, send me a messsage.

 

To top it off, this stuff is cheap and very easy to install, holds its shape, and is pretty flat.

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/894129987_CIMG1565%20(Small).JPG

[slngsht]

This was posted by KitKat in the other thread (which I'm going to lock)

 

As I noted a week or 2 ago on the Se7ens mailing list, I took temps in my 1700cc Crossflow with just a handheld digital room thermometer. On a 80 degree day with the top off and side curtains up:

 

Passenger side 85 degrees

Driver's side- 111 degrees on my lap with side curtain fastened;

Driver's side- 101 on my lap with the bottom 1/2 of the side curtain flipped completely up (where air pressure holds it in place @ 70 mph ).

All temps measured in the shade, on a mostly sunny day.

 

Toasty.

 

On a really hot day, I am sure the #'s would be much higher.

[Ned the Red]

I've noticed a few comments on the fact that the footwell area in a Caterham tends to get a bit toasty so, it seems to be something that's indemic to the car. Has anyone thought about putting a little door on the side of the car, down by the foot area? I'm thinking about something similar to the fresh air vents found on old cars, up near the windshield. Just flip the door open in warm weather, close it in cold weather. Of course, you might just be venting really hot air in from the outside of the engine area, or from around the exhaust pipe (on the driver's side). So, it might not work. And this would not address the question of getting more cooling into the engine compartment. Has anyone tried this or does anyone have a source for this type of little door? An alternate idea might be to put a small scoop outside the footwell area, with a rubber "grommet" to seal the hole up during cold weather.

[bsimon]

Saw these on Mike Biddle's Caterham RST V8.

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/751266918_scoop.jpg

[Ned the Red]

Yep, that might work - if he has a way of blocking off the outside air during cold weather!

[drew...]

Small airplanes used to use a round plastic vent that was like the bottom 1" of a large tin can (4" dia) that had a 45 degree opening in the side. When you wanted full air flow you pointed the opening forward and pushed the "can" out of the side screen, creating a scoop. Less air - rotate te "can". To draw air out rotate the opening to the rear. To shut it off pull the outside of the "can flush with the body panel.

 

Here is a ultralight website with examples: http://www.ultralightnews.ca/airvents_uslk/index.html

[bsimon]

As I recall, Mike had sliding draft gates on the inside of his footwells to stop ingress of water during wet sessions and cold weather. I would imagine those vents had to be ducted between the side skin and the footwell skin. From a aesthetic standpoint, the scoops should be painted the same colour as the side skins, or maybe even carbon weave.

 

Those tip out persplex vents are burned into my memories as I spent quite a few hours getting rather green in the back seat of my father's 7CAB Citabria as a kid. I think the exercise was to see how swimmy eyed Bobby could get before spewing a frozen-reheated FBO sandwich onto the carpet, but I digress... The vent provided a cool change of perspective to the unwilling victim of the back seat during aerobatic maneuvers. Dad, can we go back to the airport now?

 

 

[Kitcat]

The best solution is to switch to RHD: 20 -25 degrees cooler. Also, puts the driver inboard which is where he wants to be on all these clockwise race tracks.

 

Putting a vent on the driver's side as currently configured mite just draw in more warm air as that's right above the headers/exhaust.

[slomove]

Putting a vent on the driver's side as currently configured mite just draw in more warm air as that's right above the headers/exhaust.

 

That is why I moved my driver side vent (stainless powerboat shark gills) up to the bonnet (and because I did not want to mess with the side skin). To get the air into the footwell I fabricated an insulated aluminum air transfer box that feeds the fresh air through slots in the footwell "roof". Works pretty good. I considered a shut-off for rainy days but never bothered to implement that. This is California, after all

 

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/748905182_AirVent3.jpg

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/2136393856_AirVent2.jpg

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/405208325_AirBox2.jpg

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1179178275_AirBox1.jpg

[RDROCKT]

Try this link for louvered vents

 

http://www.go2marine.com/search.do?q=louvered+vent&x=22&y=14

[Kitcat]

Because of repeated issues recently calling for the adjustment of both the clutch system and accelerator cable, I left the foot well/pedal box shroud off the last few days. Talk about hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

For instance-the key got so hot today I cld not touch it to remove it. The hard plastic on the key base got soft. After I finally got it out, I tossed it to one of my teens whn I got in the house and he couldnt hold it. My feet were on fire. Driving was torture as movement pushed all that extremely hot engine compartment air right into my footwell.

 

Next project. Now that I have put the shroud back on, cover the whole footwell area with insulation. Full report to follow.